


when love is the victim we'll be the heroes

by violetstardust



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, and also work together during the day without knowing that the other is a superhero, bi character(s), dianetti, it's fun, it's like a miraculous ladybug sitch where they know each other by their aliases as superheroes, more tags to come maybe, plus they hate each other as superheroes but they're friends at work, wlw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21786505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetstardust/pseuds/violetstardust
Summary: "La Navaja," aka "The Knife" is someone Rosa never thought she would become. She's a superhero, protecting the streets of Brooklyn at night and working in a rather dramatic bookstore-slash-cafe during the day, hiding her superhero secret from all of her coworkers."The Wolf" is a name that Gina gave to herself, two weeks after she discovered that she could fly. She loves the idea of being a superhero, and she just has to add her own dramatic flare to it.However, when La Navaja and The Wolf meet, it's quite the opposite of being superhero friends. La Navaja absolutely loathes The Wolf. The Wolf thinks that La Navaja is uptight and bossy. They try to keep as far away from each other as possible, but it's not that easy when they're the only two superheroes in the city.
Relationships: Rosa Diaz/Gina Linetti, dianetti - Relationship
Comments: 29
Kudos: 42





	1. rosa's very own worst enemy shows up in the form of glitter. aka the human for of the 100 emoji.

**Author's Note:**

> good MORNIN yeah i know i have ten million fics in the works but this was an idea i had like uh five days ago and i've been obsessively writing it on my phone while drunk on sleepiness in school so please excuse the typos or whatever!!!
> 
> basically this is a superhero au in which rosa and gina are superheroes. no they don't know that the other is a superhero while they both work at a cute bookstore/cafe called corner-99. gina works in the coffee part and rosa works in the book part. it's cute u know, they're apathetic to each other's existence at work but they're literal enemies when they're working as superheroes. enemies to lovers <3
> 
> title lyrics from "sparks fly" by hey violet
> 
> playlist in the works: [lina's heroes playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IJ8N5ej3H16Kj6FWRXxSN)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rosa and Gina meet, undercover. as superheroes. because they have powers. no she's not batman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can we just talk abt a superhero au?? no like seriously talk to me abt a superhero au
> 
> also like i'm editing all of the cops out of this because b99 is cop propaganda and it is important for us to know that!! from now on they're not cops because cops are bad!! instead i am making them work at a bookstore because it was the first idea that popped into my head and why not <3 so this is like a complete AU now, no canon. canon is for the weak
> 
> updated 6/29/20

“La Navaja” is the name they give her. “The Knife.” Whispers about her spread all across the city, putting Rosa into a spotlight that she pushes away. No one knows much about her, except that she’s fearless and extremely closed off.

She has to laugh at the nickname, really. She wonders who had chosen it, but she knows why they had chosen it. Rosa fights with her knives; blades up to twelve inches that never miss a single mark.

They call her a “superhero.”

Rosa isn’t a superhero. The only ability that she’s been blessed with is incredible aim. She’s not like some of the other legendary heroes, who have the ability to warp time and space and reality or fly around with a silly little cape.

The only reason they call her a superhero is because she stakes out the streets at night, interfering with criminals and taking away their superiority in the streets. She always leaves them tied up and alive before anonymously sending a comm to the NYPD to make sure that the criminals are never able to stalk the streets at night again.

Rosa’s kind of a legend with the NYPD. Some believe that she isn’t even real— just some hero made up by the media in order to scare society into obeying the law. The anonymous comms leading them to the locations of tied up criminals? It's all just a coincidence. But everyone has to agree that the superhero does more for the city than the police department ever could.

She’s hanging around the back alleys of one of the more dangerous neighborhoods in the city, when an alarm sounds at a jewelry shop. Why is there a jewelry shop in one of the more notably dangerous neighborhoods? Rosa has no idea. It all screams "bad idea, you're gonna be robbed," but that's why Rosa is a hero, right? To stop stupid jewelry stores from being robbed.

She runs in pursuit, twisting a knife out from the inside of her leather jacket as she goes. Rosa can see three masked people, running into an alley with a bag over one’s shoulder. Rosa follows, squinting as she runs before launching the knife into the air.

It hits perfectly and pins one of the robbers to the wall with his shirt. He struggles, trying to rip himself free, but Rosa’s faster.

She throws one more knife to pin another robber and takes aim for the third when a flash of movement knocks her aside while momentarily blinding her.

“What the—”

Rosa gets to her feet quickly to see all three robbers tied up together with purple rope. They’re handcuffed too. The handcuffs are bejeweled. 

Rosa frowns, trying to piece together the puzzle of what she’s just missed.

“Hmm,” she hears from behind, and Rosa instantly whips around with a knife readily pointed at the stranger’s heart. 

However, she doesn’t let the knife loose. The stranger glares at her through her mask with an intensity, and Rosa finds herself gazing into the ocean blue of the stranger’s eyes.

She didn’t know that such a shade of blue could even exist.

“La Navaja,” the stranger drags out, and Rosa scans her from head to toe. She almost laughs— the woman is wearing a _cape_ — but quickly looks up to maintain eye contact. Rosa raises an eyebrow as the woman opens her mouth again. “ _Such_ a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Who might you be?” Rosa puts one hand on her hip. Her other hand still has a knife firmly pointed towards the woman’s heart.

“Haven’t really figured out the whole “superhero” name thing yet,” she laughs, not even faltered by the fact that there’s a knife pointed straight to her heart. “You can call me… The _Wolf_.”

Rosa snorts. “That’s dumb.”

“Not much worse than The _Knife_ ,” The Wolf fires back.

“You took my captives. Those were _my_ captives,” Rosa frowns at The Wolf, glancing over to where the three criminals lay on the floor, bound with purple rope. “Also, bejeweled handcuffs? Where do you even _get_ those?”

“I know a guy,” The Wolf grins. “You better move over, La Navaja. There’s a new hero in town and she can _fly._ It’s a pretty cool superpower.” With that, The Wolf shoots up into the sky and disappears into the night.

Rosa’s jaw drops open as she stares after The Wolf. She’s met other vigilantes, but none of them have ever really stuck around. Either they got bored and moved away, got killed, or turned evil. Rosa’s betting on the first option for The Wolf.

She sighs as she pulls out her phone to anonymously comm the stupid NYPD.

* * *

Rosa heads home about an hour later, when everything in the neighborhood seems to be more peaceful. She scales the side of the apartment complex and climbs in through the window, landing upright in her kitchen.

She strips out of her leather outfit and pulls on a t-shirt before putting some water on the stove for her tea. As she waits for the water to boil, Rosa lays out her personal weaponry on the kitchen table and examines the blades.

Rosa’s always taken very good care of her knives— she sharpens and polishes them on the daily. They’re her most prized possessions. 

She had started throwing when she was fifteen, discovering her talent of having shockingly accurate aim. Maybe that was the moment Rosa had decided to quit ballet, because while she loved to dance, knife-throwing and archery came to her much more easier. She was a quick learner, excelling in martial arts and other forms of fighting. And from that year, Rosa Diaz became a fighter, a protector, and a seeker of justice.

* * *

The next time Rosa bumps into The Wolf, she's scouting out a few muggers that are notorious for stalking a particular street in Brooklyn. Rosa can see The Wolf across the street, hovering in the shadows. She's not doing a very good job of concealing herself; her cape is dusted in pink glitter and is noticeable from a mile away. Rosa sighs in annoyance before launching a knife across the street, effectively pinning The Wolf's glittery cape to the brick wall.

Rosa watches with satisfaction as The Wolf huffs in confusion and looks around, before catching sight of the knife. The handle has a little rose carved into it. Rosa's mark.

Rosa sprints across the street before The Wolf is able to touch the knife. Rosa yanks the blade out of the brick wall with a force that couldn't be matched, then turns to face The Wolf.

"How did you—"

"Diamond blade," Rosa says. "Cuts through anything."

The Wolf lifts her cape up in annoyance. "My _cape._ That's one-of-a-kind. I made it myself. It's _bulletproof."_

"Not diamond-proof," Rosa grins. "What are you doing here? Everyone can see you. The bad guys aren't gonna come out and I won't be able to catch them." She raises her eyebrows and glares at The Wolf for explanation.

The Wolf rolls her eyes. "That's the whole point of this job. To keep the streets safe. Duh. If I'm here, then the criminals won't do anything. "

"But what if you're not here keeping guard tomorrow night?" Rosa argues. "They'll do whatever they want when you're not here."

"Well," The Wolf seems to consider this for a moment, but then brightly looks back up to Rosa. "Then _you'll_ be here!"

Rosa rolls her eyes for the fifth time that night. "No, I won't. I go from street to street, round up all of the wrong-doers so they won't be able to terrorize the streets anymore, then _move on._ " She speaks with a rather harsh tone, but without any regrets because The Wolf is thinking with _naivety._ She's probably new to streetwork.

The Wolf grins. "So we better get onto catching some bad guys!" She hovers into the air and shoots into the street, ripped cape flying behind her in all of its glory.

" _We??"_ Rosa says in disbelief. She starts sprinting after the Wolf, pulling out her diamond blade and getting ready to launch it into The Wolf's cape a second time. "We're not a team!"

The Wolf smacks into the side of a building as Rosa's diamond knife pins her cape to the wall. "What are you _doing!"_ she howls, ripping her cape free.

Rosa slows to a stop and grabs her blade. "Trying to establish the fact that we are _not_ a team and we will _never_ be a team!" Her voice has risen out of anger, but Rosa doesn't care at this point.

The Wolf is louder. "Fine! You just missed out on the opportunity of having a _super_ cool partner!"

"I work solo!" Rosa retorts, well aware of the fact that they're currently having a shouting match in the middle of the street.

"Whatever! I do too!" The Wolf crosses her arms over her chest and hovers into the sky so that she's looking over Rosa. Rosa growls, and the knife in her hand is ready to fly loose. 

The Wolf takes off into the sky, never looking back.

* * *

The next day, the top headline reads, "LA NAVAJA: TEAMED UP WITH A _NEW_ SUPERHERO?" It's paired with a grainy image of Rosa and The Wolf facing each other, hands on their hips. Rosa lights the paper on fire and drops it into the trash.

* * *

Gina flops down on the couch and tugs her mask off. She tosses it aside, earning an "ow!" from her best friend, Jake Peralta. He's sitting right next to her, and he frowns as he picks up her cape and examines it.

"What _happened?"_ he asks, running his fingers over the torn fabric. "It looks like you got beat up pretty badly."

"Did not," Gina says, crossing her arms. "I had a little encounter with _La_ _Navaja_." 

Jake nearly falls off of the couch. " _The_ La Navaja?? The Knife???? You met her in _person_?"

Gina rolls her eyes.

"But like, she's so cool! Literally no one knows _anything_ about her. Do you _know_ how many times I've tried to get the comic companies to give her a solo series? And then I would tell her that I was the one who got her the solo series, and she would like, be super impressed and then we'd be best friends and it would be super cool," Jake rambles, eyes wistfully drifting upwards.

"Whatever. She's not super cool in person," Gina says distastefully. She kicks off her superhero boots and props her feet up on the coffee table. "It's like she thinks she _owns_ the place. Like, move over, La Navaja! A new superhero is in town!"

"Okay, but can you get me her autograph at least?" Jake pleads.

Gina throws a boot at him.

* * *

Jake repairs her cape and gets her three sets of bejeweled handcuffs from wherever he gets them, all by the next morning. Her superhero suit folds up into her bag as she sets off to catch the subway to work with Jake.

"You know, if you just flew us to work then it would be _way_ faster," Jake complains, wrinkling his nose at the underground smell.

"Not gonna risk that," Gina says, scrolling through news articles on her phone. "Get a load of this." She turns her phone to show Jake a news headline.

"La Navaja: teamed up with a _new_ superhero?" he reads aloud. "Huh. Everyone thinks you two teamed up?"

Gina's nostrils flare for a split second. "Nope. Never ever."

"I wonder what _she_ thinks about this. Hey, did the article mention anything else about you?" Jake asks, squinting to read the tiny print.

Gina scans the article. "New superhero, blah, blah. I think we better tell them my superhero name before the press decides on a really stupid one."

"We never discussed a _name_ ," Jake says. His eyes light up merely at the thought of all of the possibilities. "What about _Glitter Bomb_?"

"I already chose a name, and it is _not_ that," Gina says.

" _W_ _hat?"_ Jake's eyes widen comically. "You picked a name? Without me?"

"Hey, La Navaja put me on the spot," Gina says defensively. "I had to pick a name real fast and I told her to call me The Wolf."

Jake snickers. "Your spirit animal? Really?"

Gina crosses her arms at him as the train whistles to announce its arrival. 

* * *

Half an hour later, the two of them are standing in front of Corner-99, a small bookstore-slash-cafe where Gina works as a barista and Jake works in the bookstore. Gina had gotten the job first, and then somehow convinced Jake to come work there. He says the only reason he works in a _bookstore_ is because they have rows and rows of action-packed colorful comics, but Gina's caught him secretly reading Macbeth behind a shelf before.

And then a few months later, they had discovered that Gina had powers (they're still not sure if the had just appeared spiderman-esque or if she had been born with them? Gina thinks that she would definitely have known if she had been born with the power of speed and flight) and Jake had immediately jumped on the idea of Gina becoming a _superhero._ He reads comics all day long, so he's got big ideas as to what Gina could do.

Gina had agreed, so they would go out at night in hopes to prevent small neighborhood crimes. It had usually ended up with Gina just flying Jake around the city, so Gina had suggested that she follow La Navaja around in order to learn how to properly do the superhero gig.

So now, Jake stays home behind the earpiece (which he really hates because he wants to be in on all of the action) while Gina loosely trails La Navaja around the city and puts away bad guys, mostly ones that La Navaja had left free with a warning (scared muggers, mostly).

They're still new to the while superhero scene and they're trying to work on it.

Jake bumps right into Rosa Diaz as they head into store. Rosa scowls bitterly, but it doesn't phase Jake. He flashes a smile at her and takes his jacket off while making his way to the backroom

"Sup, Diaz?" Gina says, grinning as Rosa sips her coffee and makes a disgusted face. "Still don't know how to use the coffee-maker?"

"Shut up," Rosa orders as she tosses the coffee into the nearest trash can and swiftly walks away. 

Gina's grin only widens as she heads over to the bookstore half of the place. "Hey, Santiago," Gina calls to the manager of the bookstore, "Whatcha doing there?"

"Paperwork," Santiago answers briskly, stacking a few files on the counter behind the register. "Half an hour till we open, Gina, you might wanna get on opening up the cafe."

"Paperwork on what? How many Harry Potter books there are?" Gina wrinkles her nose, the mere thought of paperwork making her head hurt.

"No," Amy Santiago answers, "It's actually about the release of a new comic series. "It's based off of La Navaja, and Peralta's gonna _flip_ when he sees this. It's coming out in four months."

Normally, Gina doesn't care about what Santiago has to say, but talk of La Navaja intrigues her. "Huh. La Navaja's getting her own comic series?"

"Yeah, that's what I just said."

"What's next, a _movie?"_ Gina mutters, a hint of jealousy lingering in her voice. Sure, La Navaja's a great superhero, but she can't help but feel just a _little_ left out. She's a superhero too, even if the city doesn't know it yet.

"Oh my god, Gina, are you secretly a fan of The Knife?"

"No. No way." Gina turns around, already over the conversation. "I gotta go open up. Bye."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they're gonna K I S S


	2. stole a knife stole a knife stole a knife STOLE A KNIFE stole a  k n i f e. stealing.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shenanigans occur. Some things happen that both heroes would probably see in a different light if they weren't worst enemies. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoilers: i threw rosa off a building :)  
> rewritten 8.3.20

When Rosa heads off from work on her motorcycle, home is the _last_ place she's thinking of. She instead heads off to the city— it's been a while since she's staked out Times Square and Central Park and she kinda just misses the busy city scene. 

Plus, she's 99% sure that she won't bump into The Wolf there. There are too many people in Times Square and the chances of bumping into someone without having it planned is ludicrous.

The Wolf hasn't left Rosa's mind since last night. Every time Rosa blinks, she catches a glimmer of The Wolf's bright blue eyes, and it makes her want to throw up. It’s like The Wolf has left a trace of herself on Rosa — actually quite literally. She’s still brushing pink glitter off of her jeans from that horrible attraction of a cape.

If Rosa was more curious, then maybe she’d stalk The Wolf a little bit; find out if she’s a threat, maybe uncover her secret identity, and see if she’s as pretty as Rosa imagines her to be under that mask. But Rosa isn’t curious, because she doesn’t care at all. Who cares if The Wolf might be super fucking beautiful under that mask? Not Rosa, that’s for sure!

Rosa takes a deep breath as she tries to forget about The Wolf. The Wolf doesn’t matter in Rosa’s world. The Wolf is just another so-called “superhero” who’s gonna stick around for a little bit, annoy Rosa to pieces, and then slip off to someplace more interesting. 

She starts counting the knives hidden on her body and then yanks two out of her belt as she walks towards the large fountain in Central Park. Her eyes land on a young couple sitting by the fountain and laughing. They look so happy; so carefree that Rosa feels something vague echo in her heart. How can someone be so _free_ , without worry? How can one feel any safety in this open-world? She clenches her jaw. 

They _can’t_. It’s impossible.

And people like them are the reason that Rosa wanders alone through the streets at night. They have a false sense of security. They don’t know when there are robbers and murderers and rapists and criminals creeping up on them. That’s exactly why Rosa has to _protect_ them.

The papers and the tabloids call her _La Navaja_ and say she’s the gem of New York — the hero of all heroes, all of the Batman and Wonder Woman comics come to life — but they don’t know why she does it. _No one_ knows why she does it. No one ever will. She has no real origin story, but fighting to keep these people safe is something that Rosa is _compelled_ to do. She _has_ to fight for them.

So when she sees the drunken looking man swerving towards the couple with a thin dagger in his hands, Rosa doesn’t even think twice before hurdling herself at him. She knocks him to the floor, he swears and tosses the dagger up, and the couple takes off.

“What the _fuck,”_ he slurs before getting to his feet. Rosa rolls her eyes, cuffs him, and drops him off at the nearest police station to ensure that he won’t be causing any trouble for the rest of the night.

The rest of the night is peaceful, much to Rosa’s surprise. It’s nice though, to not have to run after bank robbers for a change, so Rosa jumps out of her hiding places in the shadows and starts walking out of the park. It’s just about dawn, and the city isn’t as busy as it always is, but there are still a few people up and about, all unphased that La Navaja is walking in their midst.

“Well, well, well, imaging bumping into _you_ here,” a smooth voice flows behind her.

Rosa spins around at the speed of light and comes face-to-face with The Wolf, pink cape and all. She looks the same as ever, and her eyes seem to be burrowing into Rosa’s soul. “La Navaja. Wassup?”

Rosa glowers at her. “What are you doing here.”

“Oh, I was busy keeping all of the bad guys away. Maybe that’s why you didn’t have much to do tonight?” The look of innocence on The Wolf’s face is so obviously her trying to make a mockery out of Rosa. Rosa can feel her blood start to boil.

“Fuck _off._ ” 

“Or what?” The Wolf teases. “What’ll you do?”

Rosa launches a knife into The Wolf’s cape. It deflects and falls to the pavement. 

“Diamond-proofed it,” The Wolf smiles. "I'm pretty quick."

Rosa launches herself at The Wolf and knocks her to the ground. No one spares them a second glance. Thanks, New York.

Rosa’s stronger than The Wolf. She pins the superhero to the ground. The Wolf blinks, clearly shocked that Rosa could hold her down so hard. Her blue eyes go hazy as she stares up at Rosa and tries to squirm out from underneath her. “This is _my_ city,” Rosa growls at The Wolf. Their faces are much too close for comfort. “Stay _away._ ” And then she jumps off and sprints off into the night.

* * *

“Gina, you look like _hell,”_ Jake says when Gina flies in through the open window of her apartment. “But your cape is alright, thank _goodness_. It took me forever to figure out how to diamond-proof it.”

Gina scowls darkly and falls onto the couch. “Why was I so excited about being a superhero? The stupid _Knife’s_ ruined all of it. She’s so _annoying_. Like, she’s no fun.”

“I’m sure there’s been some sort of misunderstanding…” Jake says uncertainly. “La Navaja is really cool.”

“Is she, Jake? _Is_ she?!” Gina snipes. “She fucking _attacked_ me tonight.”

Jake’s jaw falls open. “She _attacked_ you? Oh my god, what was that _like_ ! Do you know how many people would _love_ to be attacked by her?!”

Gina wrinkles her nose. “Ugh. She basically held me down on the sidewalk and told me to fuck off. And then she ran away.” A smile starts growing on Gina’s face. “But she forgot something.”

“What?” Jake's eyes are nearly the size of dinner plates as he takes in the story.

Gina pulls a long diamond blade out of her jacket. It has a small rose etched into the handle. La Navaja’s signature. 

“Holy _shit_ , Gina!” Jake jumps back when Gina playfully points the knife to him. “She’ll _kill_ you!” He stares at the blade like it’s some foreign object that could explode on contact, but he inches closer with curiosity, eager to see .

Gina shrugs. “Nah, I’ll return it. It’s not _my_ fault she totally forgot about her knife.” She runs her fingers over the blade. It’s unnaturally sharp. One misstep and this knife could _kill_ someone as easily as it would be to slice sponge cake with a butter knife. If Gina’s not careful with it, it could probably slice through her bone within a matter of seconds.

"It doesn't seem like La Navaja to just, forget about a wholeass knife," Jake says.

"Maybe I'm just super charming," Gina grins. She drops the blade onto the coffee table and turns to the kitchen to make herself some coffee. After all, she’s got to go to work in just a few hours, if she doesn’t fall asleep instead.

* * *

Rosa’s been searching _everywhere_ for the knife. It’s one of her diamond-blades, and she’s missing it _severely_ because the set just isn’t complete without every knife there and accounted for. She’s retraced her steps about six times, but nothing’s come up. Rosa realizes last-minute that she’s going to be late for work, so she quickly swaps her diamond-blade out for silver and gets on her way.

Where could that _damn_ knife be?

“Yo, Diaz,” Jake Peralta says as soon as she gets to work, “help me out with this new shipment, will you?”

Rosa frowns, but she joins him in the backroom.

“So, this is apparently a new book series about, blah, blah, vampires, I think? Would be neater if there were zombies—” Jake is clearly trying to make small talk, and Rosa is hating it.

“Get to the point,” Rosa snaps, feeling a certain emptiness in her boot, of where her diamond blade belongs on most days. “I have other things to do.”

“Oooh, like _what_?” Jake asks. “What does Rosa Diaz do in her free time?”

“I break things,” Rosa says, cracking a knuckle, “such as the heads of annoying people.”

"As much as I'd like to get into that and dissect that," Jake says meekly, "I'm like bursting with excitement. Can you tell? Can you tell?!"

Rosa's tapping her foot with annoyance as she tears through a layer of tape to yank out heavy hardcover books and put them where they belong. "Sure," she mutters, "what's up with you?"

"Santiago said that there's a comic series on La Navaja in _development._ And we're gonna be the first bookstore to sell it! That means, _I_ get to read them all for free, maybe even take home a few a copies. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited!" Jake jumps with giddiness, dropping one of the books onto the floor.

Rosa blinks, and then stares at him. "What?" she asks, not quite sure that she's heard him correctly.

"La Navaja. Comics!"

Rosa can't quite process his words. She can't believe it— she's always dreaded the idea of a comic series being centered on her, and it feels like her worst nightmares might be coming to life. Plus, she's still missing that damn knife. She wipes her disgusted expression to a neutral one and slowly backs out of the storeroom. "I gotta, uh, get my morning coffee." She turns and darts out of the storeroom, coffee being the last thing on her mind.

"Santiago," Rosa says loudly, making her way to the front of the shop. Amy, the manager, is gleefully putting up book posters in the front windows of Corner-99. 

"Oh, Rosa!" she says cheerfully, "Can you hold these up while I tape them?"

Rosa sighs, but complies. "What's this I'm hearing about a new comic series?" she demands as her hands slightly slip on the poster.

"Steady, Amy chides, taping the poster into place. "I'm guessing Jake told you about the La Navaja comic series? He's really excited. I think it's gonna be _great_ for sales here. I've been in contact with the head of the comic team— Raymond Holt, he's wonderful— and I just think the whole thing is going to be _amazing._ "

"How are you so fucking enthusiastic at eight in the morning," Rosa mutters, ready to step away from the conversation.

"Because I _love_ my job," Amy grins, taping in the last corner. "And I just love working with all of you— Rosa? Rosa? Rosa, where are you going?"

* * *

Gina’s sitting on the roof of Corner-99 during her break, twirling the handle of La Navaja’s diamond knife in her hand. It’s quite the pretty knife, especially when it reflects the rays of sunlight in a beautiful metallic prism, and Gina wants to keep it forever. However, she knows that it’s just a matter of time before La Navaja hunts her down for the knife.

“What are you _doing_?” 

Gina abruptly stands up as she hears Jake’s voice, hiding the knife behind her back. Her efforts are in vain, and he catches the bright glint of diamond.

Jake’s eyes widen. “Are you playing with…” he lowers his voice, “ _the knife?”_ He tries catching a look at the knife, but Gina backs away quickly. “Come on, just let me see it.” And he’s trying to get a look at the knife, but Gina’s darting out of his way until they’re _way_ too close to the edge of the roof for comfort, and Gina goes flailing over with the knife in hand.

“No—” Jake starts to call, before remembering that Gina can fucking _fly._

“Fuck,” Gina shouts as she soars up into the air, “I think I cut myself a little bit.” She’s right— there’s a thin stream of blood running off her palm where she had caught the knife. She tosses the knife onto the roof and Jake darts out of the way. It clatters to the ground, reflecting a million rays of sunlight and blinding Jake.

Gina touches down on the roof and looks around. “Do you think anyone saw me?”

“If they did, they don’t really care,” Jake says, gingerly picking up the knife. “La Navaja’s gonna be after this pretty soon, don’t you think?

“Which is why,” Gina says, taking it from him, “The Wolf’s gonna return it to her tonight.”

“How are you gonna find her?”

“You’re the genius, figure it out, Jake."

* * *

Rosa's hacked into the city traffic cams. She's sitting in a little corner in the storeroom, on top of a few boxes, with her laptop set in her lap. She's trying to see if she can track her knife, see where it had gotten lost, but the traffic cams are proving to show nothing. She rewatches the showdown she had with The Wolf the previous night, but it's dark and filmed at an angle where you can't make out much of anything. 

Rosa slams the laptop shut, suddenly angered by the thought of The Wolf. She honestly can't _stand_ her.

* * *

"So, La Navaja's probably going to be somewhere around Brooklyn, because according to the published crime rates—" Jake squints at the laptop in front of him, peering over the thick-framed glasses perched on his nose. 

"Whatever," Gina cuts off. "Which sector?"

"I don't know," Jake says, "could be anywhere? You can fly, though."

"Bitch I _know_ ," Gina groan, knocking a stack of comic books sitting next to him.

"Amy, you dropped a bunch of comics on the floor!" Jake accuses as the manager walks in. "Look at what you did!"

Amy rolls her eyes at him and makes her way to the coffee machine. "Pick 'em up, Peralta, or I won't let you see the La Navaja comics."

"Not fair," Jake whines.

Gina stiffens at the mention of La Navaja. She gets up to leave, thinking about how she's going to track down La Navaja and return her knife.

Well, after drinks at Shaw's with the team. She has her priorities.

* * *

Rosa’s kicking at concrete, near eleven at night. She’s just left Shaw’s bar, making excuses about how she’s got to tend to her potted plants. Well, she _does_ have to tend to her potted plants, but at the moment, her knife is way more important. 

Jake and Gina had gotten up right after as well, with Gina talking about how her followers were severely missing her. Jake had just shrugged, asked Charles to cover his bill, and left.

Rosa knows she should get out there and scale buildings and shoot knives into walls and whatnot, but she kind of just wants to _relax_ , for a change. She wants to go home, make herself a cup of tea, water her plants, and sleep in. She wants to light the candles that have been gathering dust in her living room, take a hot shower, and drown in soft blankets. She seriously needs a day off, but she knows she's not gonna take one.

She launches a grappling hook knife to the top of a local flower shop, pulls herself up, and finds herself jumping across buildings. It’s much better than walking on the street like a common person, and much more fun. It's thrilling, and it makes her feel more alive than any other time.

“Hey!” a bright and cheerful voice calls, causing Rosa to nearly fall off of the edge of the building she’s currently standing on.

The Wolf comes flying in front of Rosa, landing on the ground with both feet inches away from Rosa’s boots. This time, Rosa really _does_ go flailing off the edge of the building. The Wolf jumps into action, launching herself into the air after Rosa. She swiftly catches Rosa in her arms and flies her back up.

“You’re welcome,” The Wolf bows.

“I could’ve done that myself,” Rosa mutters, brushing herself off. “Like this.” She shoots her grappling hook knife at a taller building and is gone within seconds.

The Wolf doesn’t spare a single second. She flies to the building in chase of Rosa, and they start a silly little chase around the neighborhood.

A news van on the street down below captures their game of tag on camera. “Well, folks, we don’t exactly know what La Navaja and this new superhero— perhaps a sidekick— are doing around this little sector of Brooklyn, but whatever is happening looks _heated._ What should we call this new hero? Perhaps—”

The reporter is cut off as La Navaja streaks past behind her, loosely followed by The Wolf. “It’s The Wolf,” she calls, “and I am _not_ , nor will I _ever_ be, a sidekick!”

“Well, you heard it there, everyone,” the reporter says into her mic, unphased by the sudden appearance of the heroes, “The Wolf seems to be teamed up with La Navaja!”

“We are _not_ a team,” Rosa’s rough voice yells as she launches herself across the street, “and we never will be!”

“She’s right!” The Wolf agrees, flying by and knocking the camera over.

* * *

When Gina finally catches up to La Navaja, she’s a little bit out of breath and so tired of chasing after the hero. “Come one!” she pleads as La Navaja gets ready to launch herself into the air again. “I have your knife.”

La Navaja abruptly stops in her step. “ _What_?” she says indecorously, staring at Gina. “Why didn’t you fucking lead with that? You have my knife?” She advances closer to Gina, and Gina feels intimidated, if only just for a second.

“Yeah, I found it.”

“Give me my fucking knife,” La Navaja demands. 

“Ah-ah.” Gina steps back a little bit, feeling the weight of the diamond blade grow heavier in her boot. “This comes with a cost.”

“You stole my knife.”

“Didn’t _steal_ it,” Gina protests— 

“And now you want something in return?”

“Yeah, I want to split up the city with you. You can take one half, and I’ll take the other. That way, we don’t have to bump into each other ever again,” Gina proposes. She’s sure that La Navaja’s going to accept her offer, because it’s smart, reasonable, and they pretty much mutually hate each other.

A strangled shout escapes La Navaja’s throat as she runs forward and launches herself at Gina. Gina barely has time to process what’s happening, and before she knows it, La Navaja has her tackled to the ground for the second time in twenty-four hours. Gina's pinned to the floor and she can see the dark sky and the full moon up ahead as La Navaja pats her down.

“Woah!!” Gina yells right into La Navaja’s ear. “What are you _doing_!?”

“Finding my knife!” La Navaja yells right back. “I know you’ve got it somewhere!”

“This is _not_ okay!”

“You stealing my knife is not okay!”

Gina feels one of her boots being yanked off, and then the other. The blade falls out and La Navaja grabs it and stands up. She squints at Gina, still lying on the floor, too shocked to get up. 

“Nice socks,” La Navaja says. She launches off the side of the building and disappears.

Gina peers at her knee-high socks, white and covered in purple frogs. She sighs as she picks herself off the ground and sullenly flies away towards her apartment. Once again, La Navaja’s bested her and Gina’s the second-best superhero in the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay like how is this not very gay. rosa pins gina onto the floor TWICE. stares into her eyes. gina catches rosa when she falls off a building. i was gonna write "Gina catches Rosa bridal-style" but it felt too cliche. but u know that's what happened. they're in love.


	3. superpowers are fake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just another day at Corner-99, plus the contamination of one ice machine, the time Rosa tries her hand at being a barista, and the visit of one Raymond Holt. Also, Rosa starts overthinking superpowers and comic books.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so the first two chapters have been rewritten!! i turned this into a bookstore/cafe au instead because i kinda wanted to pursue a storyline in which Rosa gets a comic series and this is how i get them closest to that! reread if u haven't! also it's been such a while since i've written b99 fic! so maybe i've missed this
> 
> also i updated this with the playlist for this fic!! [lina's heroes playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IJ8N5ej3H16Kj6FWRXxSN)

One week passes without Rosa bumping into The Wolf. There’s practically no sign of her.. Rosa hopes it'll stay this way— it feels like the dust has settled to calmness after the storm— the storm being The Wolf, of course.

Rosa doesn't miss The Wolf, of course. Every time the hero crosses her mind (which is at least once every hour), Rosa's just thinking of how  _ glad _ she is that she hasn't bumped into the Wolf. There are no nostalgic feelings involved, no thoughts about how it would be if she had agreed to team up.

"Morning," Rosa says almost cheerfully as she strolls into Corner-99 that day. She's got the slightest bounce to her step, and she even  _ smiles _ at Amy as she passes her by.

"Woah," Amy says, shocked, "did Rosa just smile?"

Rosa ignores the remark and accepts the coffee that Charles holds out for her. "Thank you," she grins, much to the shock of everyone in the bookstore.

"Did she…" Gina frowns ever so slightly, "did she like, get some last night, or—" 

"Maybe she's just excited for the La Navaja comics, like me," Jake shrugs, taking a sip of his colorful drink from the cafe, provided to him courtesy of Gina. He's crouched down next to a series of Aquaman comics, thumbing through the titles and putting the most interesting ones on top.

"I doubt that," Amy says, "she didn't seem very enthusiastic when she talked to me about them. Speaking of, the head of the comic team is visiting the bookstore today."

"Do you think I could get his autograph?" Jake stands up from his crouching position so fast he nearly knocks over a whole shelf of books.

"Who gives a shit," Gina shrugs, returning to the cafe. "I got more important things to do."

She logs onto her social media as soon as she's sitting behind the counter, and types in the keywords that she's typed in at least a hundred times this week: "La Navaja." Nothing new comes up, not since yesterday. The Knife is damn good at avoiding the cameras.

She's been avoiding La Navaja. Gina hasn't gone out for an entire week because of their little scuffle, and she  _ hates _ it. The whole thing makes her feel like she's hiding, and that is  _ not _ what Gina does.

But damn is she afraid of The Knife.

Gina busies herself by pouring cups of coffee as the morning starts to get busy. She finds herself occasionally peeking over the bookstore, watching Jake sit on the floor and read comic books, and Amy bustling around and pointing out book selections to customers. Once in a while, Amy will throw a remark out to Jake, who’ll fire right back with a witty response.

Jake and Amy may not know it yet, but they act like a married, bickering couple who are  _ immensely _ in love. 

"Ow, hot, hot, hot!" The yelps of Charles come from the backroom, and Gina’s torn away from her thoughts. She glances into the doorway to see him have pulled a tray of scones out from the oven with his bare hands. 

"Really?" Gina complains, hands on her hips, "that's the second time this month."

"I need ice," he says frantically, "ice! What are you looking at, Gina?! Get me some ice!"

Gina sighs as he plunges both of his hands into the ice bucket. Fuck.

“Santiago!” she calls, “I’m gonna need to make a run for some ice. Boyle’s contaminated all of it by putting his burning flesh into it.”

“Again?” Amy asks, exasperated. “Charles, I just bought new oven mitts for you. Where are they?”

“The scones were burning! I didn’t have time for oven mitts!”

“Bye.” Gina heads out, as the two squabble over ice and oven mitts. “Someone can cover my post, if they want.” A bell jingles from above as Gina opens the front door and pushes her way past a customer coming in. Sure, she’s gonna go get ice, but she’s also going to go for a long flight. It’s been a week since she’s flown, and she sorely needs to stretch out her legs.

* * *

“I need someone to cover Gina’s post!” Amy clamors frantically, waving around a folder. “Jake, you’re behind the cash register. Scully, organize the nonfiction shelves. Rosa—” Amy looks over to the empty cafe counter. A customer sits at one of the tables with a bored expression. “CHARLES!”

“What?” Charles comes out from the back kitchen wearing a chef’s hat. “What’s going on?”

“Can’t you cover Gina’s post?”

“I’m a chef,” he says, “I handle the baked delicacies, not the  _ coffee. _ ”

“Fine,” Amy snaps, and then catches a glimpse of Rosa. “Rosa! I need you to cover Gina’s post. Just, I don’t know, pour coffee or whatever.”

“But—” 

“I don’t care how bad you are at making coffee, just do it! Raymond Holt is coming in a few hours, and everything has to be completely perfect.” Amy looks completely unhinged, repeatedly glancing at her watch and around the store. “What are you staring at! Go, go, go!” she yells to Rosa, who shrugs and walks over to the cafe.

Charles wordlessly hands her an apron as she ducks behind the counter. She slips the apron over her neck as a customer comes up to the counter and asks for an iced coffee.

“We, uh,” Rosa stammers, glancing back around to find Charles for help, but he’s already gone back to the muffins he’s baking. “We’re all out of ice, sorry.”

The customer frowns. “Can I get… a latte, then?”

“Yeah. Sure,” Rosa says, even though she has no idea how lattes are made. The customer turns around and sits back down, and Rosa turns to all of the coffee machines. “Charles!” she shouts, “how do you make a latte!”

He doesn’t answer.

How hard could it be? Rosa wonders, but within a minute, the milk frother bubbles up and over onto the floor, she’s burned herself, and she somehow has cinnamon on her nose. “Amy!” she calls hopefully, as she sees the manager making her way across the store. 

“Too busy!” Amy answers, and disappears behind a bookshelf.

Rosa takes a deep breath, and looks down at her phone. She unlocks it and calls Gina, because Gina knows how to make a latte, right? It’s her job.

“Hey, Diaz. What’s up?” Gina’s voice is slightly airy, and it sounds windy wherever she is.

It doesn’t matter, Rosa doesn’t have time to ask any other questions besides the most important one. “How do you make a latte,” she deadpans, staring concentradely at the coffeemaker in front of her.

“You’re making a latte? Woah, I never thought I’d see the day you learned the art of coffee,” Gina says. “Wait, why are you making a latte?”

“Amy stuck me at your post while you’re… wherever the fuck you are,” Rosa mutters. “Just tell me how this stuff works.”

“Sure.”

Ten minutes later, Rosa’s got a near-perfect latte in her hand. She walks out from behind the counter and gives it to the customer, with Gina still on the phone. Rosa walks back to the counter, still watching the customer out of the corner of her eye.

“What did she say?” Gina chirps excitedly on the other end of the phone, “does she like it?”

“She hasn’t drank it yet,” Rosa says, but in truth, she’s just as eager to see the customer response.

The customer takes a sip, opens her book, and begins to read.

“No reaction,” Rosa says.

“Ah, that’s good. It’s usually either, no reaction or bad reaction, so be glad you didn’t get the other one,” Gina says. “Well, I better get this ice—”

“You still haven’t gotten the ice?!”

“Gotta go, bye!”

* * *

When Gina flies back, she notices two things. One, Santiago is standing on the roof taking a smoke, and two, a car has just pulled up and Gina’s got a feeling it’s the man who Santiago had been going on about that morning. If Santiago isn’t in the store when whatshisnamecomicface comes in, she’s going to lose her mind.

Gina touches down in the next alley and sprints towards the back door. She bursts into the book storage room, right by a sleeping Hitchcock and Scully, but ignores them. They’re probably better asleep for the important man’s visit, anyway.

“He’s here!” Gina calls, bursting into the store. She looks around, and catches a glimpse of Jake handing a customer a receipt behind the register. “Jake, he’s here!” she says.

“Who?”

“Amy’s comic book dude.”

Jake’s eyes widen in realization. “Oh,  _ shit _ . Amy is gonna freak out. Where is she?”

“I’ll go warn her,” Gina says. She glances around the store once again, and sees Rosa milling around behind the coffee counter. It’s an amusing sight— Rosa’s not the type you’d peg to be a barista. But then again, she’s not the type to work at a bookstore, either. Sometimes it makes Gina wonder, how did Rosa end up here, anyway? She would probably pay good money to hear the story.

Gina loses the thought as she remembers their current situation and heads back to sprint (more like levitate) up the stairs to the roof. “Amy!” she calls as soon as she makes it up. Amy turns around with a surprised expression on her face. She drops the cigarette to the floor and squashes it under her foot.

“Comic book dude is here,” Gina says, eyes trailing down to the crushed cigarette.

“Oh,” Amy says indifferently, “I’ll be right there.”

“Nicotine Amy is Calm Amy. I like Nicotine Amy,” Gina decides, heading back down.

She meets Jake at the checkout counter. “She says she’ll be right down.”

“Did she?” He flips through an edition of The Flash that he had been reading under the counter. “Doesn’t seem like her. But look at this! Imagine what it would be like if you had super speed too!”

“Shhh,” she hisses. “You’re so loud. Shut up. Where's the comic book dude, anyway?”

Jake shrugs, trying to put on a nonchalant act. “Dunno,” he says.

“I thought you were just as excited as Amy.”

“Who knows? Maybe this guy will be cool. Or maybe, he’ll be a total robot or something. See, like this?” Jake moves his arms in a robotic way as an attempt to make Gina laugh, “Meep morp.”

“Is that what you think?” comes the stoic-sounding voice of a man behind them. Jake whips around to see that he’s wearing an official-looking name tag that says “RAYMOND HOLT.”

Gina’s eyes widen in the “ _ oh-shit-we’re-screwed” _ sort of way, but she’s still trying to hold in laughter. A snort escapes her and Jake elbows her in the arm.

“Hey, dude!” Jake says. “What’s up?”

“I did not want to interrupt you,” Raymond Holt says, “continue with what you were doing.”

“Doing?” Jake says nervously, “doing what?”

“The robot voice. Carry on.”

Jake looks like he’s about to faint, but luckily, Amy Santiago arrives at just the right time. “Peralta, it’s time for your break anyways. Why don’t you head to the break room?” she says smoothly, giving him a directed look. Then, she looks up to Holt. “Sorry if he was bothering you. Jake can kind of be a pain in the neck sometimes.”

“Am not!” Jake protests.

“Jake. Break room.”

“I took my break like half an hour ago—”

Amy’s stare cuts into him like a razor blade and he promptly excuses himself.

“Gina,” Amy says, eyeing the bag of ice that’s resting against Gina’s thigh, “You have to refill the ice machine, right?”

Gina shrugs, eyeing Raymond Holt. He stares right back down at her, rather emotionless. “I could do that later.”

“No you can’t,” Amy says pointedly, “it’ll melt.”

“Technicalities,” Gina mutters under her breath, sulking out from behind the counter. She heads back to the cafe side of the store, where Rosa lets out an audible sigh upon her arrival.

“Where the fuck were you? If I knew Santiago would have stuck me  _ here _ , I would’ve called in sick this morning.” Rosa yanks off her apron and throws it at Gina.

“Santiago would’ve had your head,” Gina says. “Today, everything’s  _ gotta be perfect!” _ Her voice rises an octave as she imitates Amy. She peers over to where Amy and Holt stand. Amy looks animated, talking with hand gestures and nearly bouncing up and down. Holt, on the other hand, stands perfectly still. His facial muscles don’t seem to move at all. “Seriously, what do you think they’re talking about?”

“I dunno,” Rosa shrugs, “probably the comic stuff.”

“Can you believe that  _ that guy _ writes comics? I mean, comics are like, fun and  _ boom _ and  _ pow! _ according to Jake. That guy looks the opposite of all of that.” Gina opens the bag of ice and begins to pour it into the machine. “I mean, seriously. Jake looked like he was about to piss his pants when Holt confronted him for doing his robot voice.”

Rosa snorts. “So, I should just hang back here and chill, right? Santiago wouldn’t want anyone in the way of her—”

“Definitely not,” Gina agrees, and Rosa jumps up onto the counter with her legs dangling off of the edge. “Want me to show you how to make a strawberry blast smoothie?”

“If I get to keep it.”

“Fine.”

* * *

Raymond Holt finally leaves the store an hour later. “Oh my goodness, he said he liked the aura of the store and that he wanted to come here to think of ideas for the comics!” Amy looks positively thrilled as she narrates almost every detail to Jake, Rosa, Gina and Charles, who stand in the cafe and give each other looks.

“You mean… he’s going to be here  _ every day? _ ” Jake asks. He looks a little afraid, but slightly interested. 

Rosa rolls her eyes. “Are you fucking serious,” she mutters under her breath, thinking of the comics Raymond Holt’s supposed to come up with, about  _ her. _

“What?” Amy asks, a little breathlessly. “I didn’t hear you—”

“Nothing,” Rosa says. “Just thinking about how wonderful it’s going to be!”

Gina snorts.

* * *

It’s eleven o’clock that night, and Rosa, well,  _ La Navaja _ , is out for a walk. She’s thinking about Raymond Holt. Maybe if she can steal his papers at the end of each day, she’ll be able to delay the comic series and… she’s being unrealistic. There’s no way she could do that without raising an alarm.

Something rustles overhead and Rosa looks up with a dark scowl on her face. The moon gleams overhead, and a shadow flies across it— 

“La Navaja?”

“What the fuck,” Rosa mutters as The Wolf touches down on the sidewalk right in front of Rosa. “What are you doing here.”

“Out for a walk?” The Wolf grins. Her cape flutters in the wind behind her. Rosa rolls her eyes and moves for her grappling hook to get the hell out of here, but The Wolf firmly grabs Rosa’s wrist before she can do so. “So, I heard something,” she grins, “You’re getting a comic book series?”

“I literally hate you,” Rosa growls, cheeks glowing red.

“What, you aren’t a fan of getting your own comics?” The Wolf asks, releasing Rosa’s wrist. “You don’t wanna have a series like Batman or Wonder Woman?”

“They’re not real,” Rosa says.

“Well, by that logic,  _ we _ wouldn’t be real, either, huh?”

“That’s different,” Rosa grits her teeth.

“How so?”

“We’re… our powers weren’t meant to be. The universe like, fucked up. We’re glitches in the system. Batman and Wonder Woman are made up,” Rosa says, still trying to make sense of it for herself. She squints at The Wolf, starting to wonder for herself how they had gotten there. “We’re not made up. We’re just…  _ fucked up.” _

Sure, Rosa had discovered her talent at fifteen, but she didn’t call it a  _ superpower. _ Superpower is an overstatement. Throwing with accurate aim is just skill, built up from years and years and years of training. 

But The Wolf’s flight, on the other hand, Rosa can’t exactly explain.

Maybe they  _ are _ superpowers.

“First of all,  _ ouch. _ Second, they’re definitely superpowers. Flying isn’t something anyone can do,” The Wolf says.

“Whatever,” Rosa mutters, not wanting to overthink tonight. She grabs her grappling hook and shoots up into the sky.

“Hey!” The Wolf shouts, zooming after her, “I thought we were having a conversation!”

“No,” Rosa deadpans as soon as they come face to face, and then flings herself away and into the night. She smiles as she soars through the sky, the dumbfounded expression on The Wolf’s face etched into her mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> always appreciate kudos and comments!!

**Author's Note:**

> comments/kudos are very much appreciated!! i rlly wanna know what you think about this!!
> 
> you can find me at [@violetstardust](https://violetstardust.tumblr.com)


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